I have been an F1 fan ever since I can remember, but in the recent years, let’s go back 5 years or so, with no real TV coverage here in Slovenia, I kind of stopped watching the sport. I still followed the results here and there, but nothing more than that. The occasional races that I did manage to catch on TV back then were mostly boring. Not a lot of on-track action, and the same 2 cars pulling away from the rest of the pack and winning by 30+seconds. Many will come back at me saying that Ferrari was the same in the early 2000’s, and I would agree, but I was a bit too young then to follow the sport as closely as I do now. At the beginning of 2020 I also decided to subscribe to the F1TV and that was probably my best decision since the start of that year!
As the world is still under many of the restrictions due to the pandemic, that also brings a lot of problems to a sport that travels to different venues all around the world. Different countries having different protocols in place on how people can get in the country, so to have a sport like Formula 1 keep going, despite all of that, is just an incredible achievement from everyone involved! It is true that some races have had to be cancelled, and some others took those open slots, but putting a season in with 22 or 23 races (hoping we get to see all the races scheduled between now and the end of the season) is just incredible!
Last year, the world pretty much stopped for quite some time. When the 2020 Formula 1 season eventually got underway, the races were happening in a very quick succession, making it a very tight packed schedule for everyone involved. Of course for us, the fans, that was an amazing thing, since we had so much racing action going on, but for the people making it happen, it must’ve been sooo exhausting! There were a couple of boring races last year as well, let’s face it, but comparing that to the 2019 season for example, it was already so much more interesting, at least in my opinion!
Before the previous season being impacted by the whole pandemic situation, Formula 1 was set to introduce a completely new rulebook, new car regulations and all that good stuff at the beginning of 2021. But, since 2020 went as it did, they decided to push those regulation changes to 2022, which meant that the cars’ designs were pretty much “locked” between 2020 and 2021, basically not letting teams change their cars that much. Some things could and have been changed by some teams, but the main designs stayed pretty much the same. That fact wasn’t really something to look forward to, from a fan point of view, since we were all expecting the season to develop basically the same as the previous one did. But, oh boy, how wrong we were!
The 2021 season started with preseason testing in Bahrain. Usually, the preseason testing takes place in Spain, in Barcelona, to be more precise, but due to the logistics of everything, it was much easier for the teams to get to Bahrain early, do some testing there and start the season at that track. Australia was supposed to hold the first round of the season, but with their very strict covid protocols, they couldn’t come to an agreement with Formula 1 on the quarantine rules, so the season opener was the race in Bahrain.
At first when I was making a mental outline of this post, I thought of going into more details of every single race in the season so far, but that would make this post waaaay too long, so I decided to rather just point out 2 or 3 of the races that I thought were the best for me, but you can of course put down your own views and thoughts in the comments below! 🙂 These races will be in no particular order, only going by what comes to mind first.
I’d have to point out the Russian GP, which was the latest race at the time of writing this. I can’t even begin to imagine how Lando’s heartbreak must’ve felt, especially after losing his first ever win in Formula 1 in such a way, after dominating and controlling the race as well as he had done that afternoon. Unfortunately, the rain was a bit heavier than expected, and the slick tyres, used in the dry, weren’t able to provide enough grip anymore. He finished 7th in the end, which is not something that he could’ve been happy with, looking at how it was all looking for him just a few laps before the end. A good thing about the race, for me personally, was that Carlos Sainz, driving for Ferrari, made it onto the podium as well! As you might know, I am a Ferrari fan, first and foremost. 😀 Although, with these young guys now coming through, Like Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris, George Russell and so on, I really want all of them to do well, even though that might mean that Ferrari wouldn’t be at the top.
My second pick would have to be Hungary. What a race that was! I mean, all the races this year have been phenomenal, but Hungary was probably a step above the others. It did start with a pretty big crash, with multiple drivers retiring from the race (thankfully no one got hurt), which completely mixed up the grid. We should not forget the amazing battle between Hamilton and Alonso, which in hindsight let Ocon take his first ever win of his career in that race. Due to Vettel, who finished second, getting disqualified from the race, Sainz got another third place, so also a great result for Ferrari!
And finally, I’m going to point out Monza. We’ve seen the second Sprint Qualifying weekend during that race week, meaning that there were two races, one sprint race (100km in length) on Saturday and the regular, grand prix race on Sunday, like we’re used to. We’ve had yet another incident involving Hamilton and Verstappen, the two main title rivals, and there was a lot of debate on who was at fault, again. In the end, we have seen a McLaren 1-2, with Ricciardo winning the race ahead of Norris and it was just a perfect weekend for the team!
The next race, in Turkey, is now fast approaching, and after this round, there will be only 6 rounds left till the end of the season! There is only a 2 point gap between the two championship contenders at this moment, with Hamilton leading the standings, but we’ve seen so many unexpected things happening throughout the season already, so I’m guessing there are a few surprises left in store for us until the season finally draws to a close in Abu Dhabi! We will see a couple of new tracks being introduced still, with one of them, Qatar, just recently being announced.
Looking forward to this explosive ending to the season, full of all kinds of emotions, and once again, feel free to let me know what you think of the season in the comments down below! 🙂
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